David Friedländer – författare

When wealthy Jewish industrialist David Friedländer proposed in 1799 that Berlin's Jews undergo a sham conversion to Christianity in return for full German citizenship, he touched off a political and theological debate that would continue to define the relation between Jewish and German identity for more than a century.In the series of provocative letters collected here, Friedländer, Protestant leader Wilhelm Abraham Teller, and young Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher debate Friedländer's radical proposal. In so doing, they grapple with many of the thorny problems--such as citizenship, religious tolerance, and assimilation--that continue to vex world political leaders today.Richard Crouter's Introduction provides the cultural, religious, and historical context for this compelling exchange; a postscript by Julie Klassen reveals the ways in which Germany's minorities continue to be marginalized more than two hundred years after Friedländer made his passionate appeal for political liberty and human rights.

When wealthy Jewish industrialist David Friedländer proposed in 1799 that Berlin's Jews undergo a sham conversion to Christianity in return for full German citizenship, he touched off a political and theological debate that would continue to define the relation between Jewish and German identity for more than a century.In the series of provocative letters collected here, Friedländer, Protestant leader Wilhelm Abraham Teller, and young Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher debate Friedländer's radical proposal. In so doing, they grapple with many of the thorny problems--such as citizenship, religious tolerance, and assimilation--that continue to vex world political leaders today.Richard Crouter's Introduction provides the cultural, religious, and historical context for this compelling exchange; a postscript by Julie Klassen reveals the ways in which Germany's minorities continue to be marginalized more than two hundred years after Friedländer made his passionate appeal for political liberty and human rights.

Am 11. März 1812 erging das Emanzipationsedikt, das den preußischen Juden die gleichen Rechte wie den Christen versprach. Das Edikt markierte einen Meilenstein in der jüdischen Emanzipationsgeschichte. Mit dem langen Ent­stehungsprozess des Edikts ist kein anderer Name enger verbunden als der des jüdischen Aufklärers David Friedländer (1750–1834). Die hier neu editierten Texte dokumentieren u.a. Friedländers innerjüdischen Reformansatz, der sich gegen traditionelle Hierarchien und rabbinische Machtansprüche richtete. Dazu entwickelte er eine ganze Reihe gesellschaftlicher, religiöser und er­zieherischer Konzepte mit dem Ziel einer gleichberechtigten Gemeinschaft von Christen und Juden. Dafür ging er erhebliche Risiken ein und wurde auch zum Ziel massiver Angriffe.